CenterCal Properties, the would-be developer of a now-scuttled plan to revamp the waterfront, has filed its fourth lawsuit against Redondo Beach — this time over the wildly popular BeachLife Festival.

In the lawsuit, filed last month in Los Angeles Superior Court, CenterCal argues that Redondo Beach’s 10-year license agreement with the organizers of BeachLife — which wrapped up its inaugural three-day festival on Sunday — violated its own deal with the city that guaranteed the developer the right to lease the waterfront for up to 99 years.

CenterCal, in court documents, said that under its agreement with the city it should have had the right to approve or deny the festival.

This lawsuit is just the latest in a string court battles and controversies over the waterfront since the $400 million project was thrown into doubt two years ago.

The city and CenterCal struck an agreement in January 2017 that gave the company the rights to enter into a lease with the city and ultimately redevelop the waterfront, a plan that would have created a roughly 525,000 square-foot seaside village where BeachLife took place.

(That agreement was not the same as an actual lease; rather, it was essentially a right-of-first-refusal that prevented other groups, such as BeachLife, from swooping in and signing a lease with the city before CenterCal was able to.)

But in March 2017, Redondo voters passed Measure C, significantly curtailing future development on the waterfront. The municipal elections also brought new leadership to the City Council, making it politically untenable to move forward with the project.

Still, CenterCal has maintained that its agreement with Redondo is still active. And that agreement prohibits the city from entering into a waterfront deal with a third party unless it includes three provisions: The agreement can be terminated within six months, CenterCal gets notified and the developer approves the deal.

But the September 2018 agreement between the city and Sanford Ventures — the BeachLife producer, run by Allen Sanford, also the owner of Hermosa Beach’s Saint Rocke — did not include those provisions, said attorney Betty Shumener, arguing the case CenterCal.

Rather, the city’s deal with Sanford Ventures allows BeachLife to occur twice a year for a decade, with a five-year extension.

“The city had to be able to exit the lease agreement, so that if we get to proceed with the waterfront project, they can exit from that lease,” Shumener said in an interview Monday, May 6. “They didn’t give themselves any out on that lease. And that’s a material breach of our” agreement.

City attorney Mike Webb declined to comment Monday.

But in court, both sides have argued the other is in violation of the agreement: The city, for its part, has said CenterCal violated the agreement by not paying more than $1 million related to the environmental impact report and other legal fees.

But Mayor Bill Brand, whose road to the mayor’s seat came largely by fighting against the waterfront project, said the BeachLife Festival this weekend was a startling contrast to what would have been developed there.

“You gotta love it that the mall developer has filed another lawsuit related to their failed plan,” Brand said. “Westport Capital and CenterCal have been all about the money from day one and they just continue to go after any money that they can.”

Sign up for The Localist, our daily email newsletter with handpicked stories relevant to where you live. Subscribe here.

David Rosenfeld has been working as a professional journalist for nearly 20 years at newspapers, magazines and websites. He's covered murder trials, interviewed governors and presidential candidates and once did a flip in a biplane for a story assignment. Before joining The Daily Breeze in 2018 to cover El Segundo, Hawthorne and aerospace, he worked at The Beach Reporter in Redondo Beach. In his free time, David loves outdoor sports such as sailing, mountain biking and golfing.

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.